People who do not understand what conditions are really
like in Kenya, frequently ask how it is that Mau Mau has
been able to hold out for so long against the combined
forces of the Police, the Army, and Air Force, with their far
greater resources of materials and superiority of weapons.

There are many different factors which contribute to the
difficulties of operating successfully against the Mau Mau
gangs and I shall try and point out some of them.

In the first place, a large part of the country in which
Mau Mau operates is without proper roads, and, of course,
a part of it is actual forest on the mountain slopes of Mount Kenya and the Aberdares. Communication systems are
very bad and the area is vast. It is not at all easy, therefore,
to get the news of the movements of a Mau Mau gang back
to a point where there is a Guard Post, a Police Post, or a
Military Camp, in time for the Security Forces to get into
action before the gang that was the subject of the report
has melted away.

Moving across country on foot, up and down steep
hillsides--which even jeeps and land-rovers cannot negotiate
--it is relatively easy for a gang to take evasive action from
mechanical patrols. Foot patrols, on the security side,
consist in a large part of personnel--both British and
African--who are not really familiar with the terrain, and
who therefore have to have guides drawn from among the
local people, such as the Home Guards. But a guided party
that is trying to follow a trail can never move so fast as
a group of people who all know the district and who
can scatter to meet again at a prearranged rendezvous,

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